Ultimate Change in Fate
by The-Little-Cabbage
Summary: What happens when the reincarnated soul of an Atlantean girl returns to Gaea? Rating subject to change. Please R&R! ;D (The revised version) Sorry, not much of a summary, but I don't want to give anything away!


Note: This story takes place after Episode 24. Allen has broken off his proposal to Hitomi, and the war has not yet started.  
  
ULTIMATE CHANGE IN FATE  
  
EPISODE 25- Girl From Atlantis  
  
Dilandau paced around the loading bay at the foot of his red guymelef impatiently. "Have we received word yet? I can't wait any longer!"  
The general's mind was focused on one thing; getting his revenge on Van Fanel. "Lord Dilandau, Dornkirk wishes to see you now." A dog-man appeared in the door of the hallway.  
Dilandau pushed his way through a crowd of preparing soldiers, enraged. "Jajuka, I can't have this now, I'm busy!" He hissed.  
"He said it was urg-"  
"It's always urgent!"  
The general clenched his teeth angrily as he passed his comrade and yelled from down the hallway to perform final preparations on his guymelef. "Everything has to be perfect this time!"  
Dilandau passed the fate machine, glancing at it uneasily. Dornkirk peered down at him sternly. "This can't go on anymore; you don't fight properly and you're unfocused. I'm going to have the sorcerers take you and fix the problem so that your dull mind doesn't wander off in battles anymore."  
"What? What are you talking about?" Dilandau stepped back slowly, hands up in protest, "I'm focused! There's nothing..."  
He looked over and saw the horrible, lab coat laden men coming down the corridor. He spun around to fight them off, but they grabbed him forcefully. He could have sworn they laughed to themselves as he yelled out desperately. They covered his mouth, a dull and painful jab injected serum into his neck. Dilandau's eyes rolled back slightly before he fell unconscious on the metal walkway.  
  
~~ EARTH  
Marina rushed out of her chemistry class, stuffing her binder into her messenger bag. She elbowed her way through the between-class traffic, her mind throbbing incessantly. Pushing the door open to the girl's room, she nearly knocked over someone who dropped her books onto the grimy tiled floor.  
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Let me help y-" Marina stopped mid-sentence when she looked up at her victim's face.  
The girl looked almost like... no that was crazy it couldn't be her. In a daze Marina bent down to pick up the girl's books, never taking her eyes off her face. That blonde hair, those blue eyes... so familiar...  
"I'm sorry," Marina blushed and now avoided the girl's eyes, "you just look like someone... someone I've seen before."  
She smiled at Marina with a hint of mystery, and nodded. Marina realized she was still holding the girl's books and passed them into her hands. "Here. Well, I'll see you around."  
The girl just smiled back as she brushed past Marina, who looked down and saw a card on the floor. She picked it up quickly and looked back to hand it to the girl, but to her bewilderment, she was gone. Marina's heart stopped. She turned the card over curiously; it had a picture of a white dragon on it. Shoving it into her bag, she continued into the washroom.  
  
~~  
Hitomi woke up with a start, her heart pounding with fear; she had seen visions in her dreams again. She got out of bed and wandered over to the window, clutching her grandmother's pendant, which began to glow faintly. "Hitomi!" Merle bounded over to her, "what's wrong?"  
The furry girl's eyes glowed in the darkness, her cat-ears perked.  
"How did you-"?  
"I heard you. I mean, you were yelling in your sleep, so I came to see what was the matter!" Merle watched Hitomi expectantly, "well?  
Hitomi sighed heavily, "The war is going to be stopped- not completely, but temporarily. Something is happening..." Hitomi saw Merle's face brightly light up like a child's on Christmas.  
"Lord Van doesn't have to fight? That's great news! But... then why do you still look upset?" Merle's grin turned into a concerned frown.  
"Something is coming, but I just don't know-"  
"Hitomi?" Merle watched as Hitomi's eyes suddenly looked horrified, and then followed her gaze to the tarot cards lying on a nearby table.  
Still clutching her pendant, she felt suddenly drawn to them. "It can't be..."  
Merle looked at the skinny girl and raised an eyebrow at Hitomi's strange behavior. She followed Hitomi over to the table as the tall blonde picked up her deck of tarot cards. The rose-pink pendant glowed even brighter as she picked up her cards.  
"What's going on Hitomi? What's wrong?" Merle dropped her voice to a barely audible whisper; fear crept into her chest.  
"It's missing! One's missing!"  
  
~~  
Van sat on the balcony, just outside of his room. How could he sleep with this battle coming up Merle was getting all worried and upset, and Hitomi didn't seem pleased about the prospect of him leaving either. He knew that his side had a good chance of winning, but there was still the unmentionable possibility on the other hand. He knew that he had to come back to Hitomi. He had, after all, gone to the Mystic Moon the other day to return her to Gaea, and that wasn't for nothing.  
A knock on the door started him out of his thoughts, and nearly off the edge of the ledge. "Come in." He called across the room.  
Allen appeared in the doorway, his long blonde hair nearly sweeping the floor. "What do you want?" Van asked, gritting his teeth at the sight of the Asturian.  
Even though Hitomi Didn't get engaged to the blonde git, Van still felt a bit jealous. But in an instant his jealousy dissipated.  
"There will be no battle, for now at least." Allen announced.  
Van hopped off the ledge and strode across the room to him, "why?"  
It took a moment to register Allen's words before he replied.  
"I was just informed. It seems Ziabach has made some sudden change in plans. Their fortress has left and their men are no where to be seen."  
"Well, that doesn't mean the battle will be postponed! They're probably planning some sort of surprise attack." Van's mind whirled; a new anger had arisen.  
"Ziabach wouldn't be that obvious; every single soldier has withdrawn from their posts! They know we're not that stupid. There's got to be something else..."  
A bright light, almost blinding, was emitted into the sky, which immediately interrupted Allen's thoughts. Van saw his intense expression alter to curiosity mingled with surprise, and he traced Allen's gaze to a column of light in the sky. Allen squinted, "is that-"?  
"Escaflowne."  
  
~~  
Marina emerged from the school library, her eyes weighed down like lead with sleep. She jolted for a moment and realized it was dark already, and in a panic she became conscious of how late she was for dinner. Almost tripping over her feet clumsily in an exhausted daze, Marina loped up the front steps of the school as she rummaged in her bag for her house keys. She suddenly stopped as her finger brushed up against some flimsy cardboard and she brought it out. It was the card she had found after she nearly clocked that girl with the bathroom door. It was so dark that she had to bring it close to her nose to see the details of the white dragon on the card. Hopefully she would find the girl to return her card.  
Remembering why she had been in a hurry a few minutes earlier, she stuffed the dragon card back into her bag, and began to shuffle quickly in the direction of her house. Without even realizing what happened, she tripped on the curb when crossing the street, but before she hit the ground a bright light engulfed her. At first she thought a street lamp had turned on, but it was much too bright and she had froze in mid-air.  
When she began to rise into the air, which surely defied the laws of physics, she thought, she began to scream, but for some reason she was making no sound.  
  
~~  
  
Dilandau began to awaken, his body riddled and aching with dull pain. He groaned as he tried to sit up as he realized he was restrained, the leather straps digging into his pale wrists. "Get me out of here! Stop doing this to me!" He shouted hysterically, face screwed up in mad frustration.  
He suddenly trailed off when he heard someone else groaning near by, awakening as well. The voice sounded female, and he turned his head in the direction of the moaning. He strained to see in the semi-darkness who the voice belonged to. He could barely make out the figure of a young woman, who looked somewhat familiar. "Who are you?" He demanded, but received no answer.  
As he struggled to get a closer look, the image that had plagued him day after day appeared once more. It was that of a young girl running through a meadow crying; the image that pained him mentally, and physically. But this time it wasn't painful; it felt like a relief of sorts. He was rudely pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a thick metal door slamming, and he was aware yet again of how much pain he was in and that he was a helpless wreck. He struggled to free himself, but his attempts were in vain.  
Two men appeared in his line of vision, the most terrible of which was bald with ashen hued skin. "I see you are awake now" The bald sorcerer commented as he pushed his glasses up his long nose a bit further.  
Dilandau ceased his desperate attempts at freedom and mustered all his hatred up into one glare, which would have sent a group of school children screaming. "Get me out of here." He demanded, putting emphasis on every syllable.  
"Now, now. We mustn't get all defensive. After all," the man brought his voice down a tone, "you are the one strapped down."  
A newfound rage was rising into Dilandau's throat, but the sorcerer spoke first, "Dornkirk has requested your presence immediately. Too bad you can't stay a while."  
Dilandau masked his fear; these were the only creatures he has feared. The ashen faced man left, one of his comrades unrestrained the Ziabach general. They returned him to the floating fortress, Vione, and released him. Dornkirk requested his presence at once upon arrival. Dilandau's rage toward him had increased considerably, but it boiled his blood when he learned that the battle was called off; supposedly there was a glitch in the fate machine or something. Whatever it was, he didn't care. He just wanted to feel the sweet adrenaline that coursed through his veins during battle.  
"Dilandau," Lord Dornkirk's voice loomed from above, "I have seen a new destiny for us through the fate machine. We don't need the girl from the Mystic Moon right away, there is another girl with an Atlantean soul who is more valuable."  
Dilandau ground his teeth for a moment, "why do I need to hear this?" He wasn't in charge of the fate stuff; he was here to fight!  
"Silence! You, indeed, have a lot to do with this. Since Folken betrayed us, you are to take his place. Your first assignment will be to capture the Atlantean girl. If we don't get her, the dragon will. Escaflowne's power has been used to summon her to Gaea."  
Dilandau's anger subsided at the possibility of Van showing up where the girl was to appear. "Don't fail me."  
"Don't worry, Lord Dornkirk," Dilandau grinned evilly, his ruby eyes flashing, "I'll get you the girl." And kill Van Fanel while I'm at it!  
  
~~  
  
Hitomi sprinted to Van's room when she realized her tarot card was missing. "Van!" She called, as she pounded on the door.  
Allen opened it a crack. "Allen? What are you-" Hitomi stopped herself in mid-sentence when she saw a pearly stream of light across the night sky, "no it can't be! I had another vision about a girl who was connected to Atlantis! She's not draconian, but she has wings!"  
"Hitomi, calm down! What about this Atlantean girl? How does this affect us?" Allen said, trying to make sense of her nonsense.  
"I don't know, but I do know Ziabach wants her. She might still have the power of Atlantis in her! We have to get to her before Ziabach does or else-" She trailed off and grabbed her pendant, "I can use this to find her. Hey look, the light! It's gone!"  
Allen and Van turned their heads to look to come to the same conclusion.  
"Escaflowne's power took her from the Mystic Moon, just like what happened to me..." Hitomi whispered before she sprinted from the room.  
"Hitomi!" Van and Allen called in unison after her.  
"Allen, I'm going to get Escaflowne. I'll find you, so just keep following her." Van turned to go back, but Allen kept his pace.  
  
~~  
  
In frustration, Dilandau kicked up some dirt as they came to the edge of a forest. Dornkirk had warned him not to take is guymelef to retrieve the girl. Why was he doing this anyway? All he wanted to do was to eradicate Van Fanel; he didn't want to go on petty missions kidnapping helpless little girls. Besides, if Van showed up in Escaflowne Dilandau admitted he was as good as dead. The mission was suicide.  
The Ziabach troupe walked past the tree line of the woods, but Dilandau ordered the rest of them to remain here while he went to look for the girl. One of his men was in a stealth-cloaked guymelef nearby in the event that Escaflowne showed up. His musings continued on as he thought about it. He should have his guymelef and have someone else looking through the wilderness for this silly girl. He didn't care about Dornkirk's plans, or his ridiculous fate machine; all he wanted was sweet vengeance.  
Up ahead, Dilandau spotted a pillar of blinding light, "it's about time." He mumbled. He finally reached it, holding up his hand to shade his eyes. "How am I supposed to get near her if the light is so bright?"  
As if answering his question, the light disappeared all at once and as he moved further into the shrubbery something landed on him. Or someone, he thought. With a great groan he was knocked off his feet. He looked at the weight on top of him, and sure enough it was she. "That wasn't too hard." He said aloud at the unconscious heap that was now at his feet.  
Though Dilandau was thoroughly disappointed he didn't get to murder Van, the mission had been easy. Suddenly, the girl let out a painful groan and her eyes fluttered slightly. Dilandau quickly scooped her up, not wishing to deal with her while she was awake. The girl looked bewildered for a moment, the looked up at him, frightened. "Who are you?" She said as she began to struggle.  
"I am Lord Dilandau, and you are just the girl we've been looking for."  
"Let me go!"  
Dilandau flipped her around so he could quiet her incase she began to scream. Suddenly a type of sensation poked at his stomach, and he slowed his pace a bit. A stomachache? No, it couldn't be, it didn't really hurt, it just felt awkward. He promptly forgot about it when he reached Jajuka and the others.  
  
~~  
  
"There! There's where the light stopped!" Hitomi pointed at somewhat of a space near the center of the forest where trees were spread further apart.  
Before Escaflowne touched down in the spot, Hitomi had jumped off and began to search for sings of the girl. "Hitomi!" Allen landed beside her and frowned at a horrified look on her face. He tracked her gaze to the mossy ground. "What is that?" He saw a rectangular card on the ground.  
Hitomi picked it up and flipped it over. "Oh no!" She breathed, "m-my tarot card! They've already got her!"  
  
~~ AU: How did you like it? Was it too long of a chapter? Please review! 


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